narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass

﻿NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN SLAVE
BY FREDERICK DOUGLASSNineteenth-century Americans witnessed the abolition of slavery due to the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, in 1865. Frederick Douglass was an African-American who not only witnessed the cruelty to slaves with his own eyes but also suffered personally from it. In his narration, Frederick Douglass exemplifies many of the atrocities that he himself suffered first hand from or was present to witness. As the novel progresses, the author presents the different sides of the slavery society pointing out that the factors which make it possible and lasting for so long were due to the lack of education giving us several example as the abuse against slaves. The depravation of the masters and their lack of morality were two of the main reasons that women were made to live in a harsh period being sexually abused, punished without reason, and separated from their children. In the narration of Frederick Douglass, there are many times in which those facts are described. The first time that there is a reference to this matter is at the very beginning of the story, Douglass does not know his age either who his father is. There are rumors that his father is the master of his first slaveholder but his mother dies without telling him the truth of the matter. As we can see in this quotation: “My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me (15).” Another example of the depravation of the slaveholders is exemplified with Aunt Hester: Aunt Hester went out one night,—where or for what I do not know,—and happened to be absent when my master desired her presence. He had ordered her not to go out evenings, and warned her that she must never let him catch her in company with a young man, who was paying...

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Slavery tends to be looked at casually by people in today's society. People have little knowledge of the truths that lie behind slavery. Many people view slavery as white plantation owners abusing the civil rights of colored people and forcing them to work using physical punishment to reinforce their authority over them. Although these events did occur, slavery was more complicated than this. FrederickDouglass' autobiography opened the door on a new view of what slavery was about. The main conflict in the story is Douglass' struggle to be free physically and mentally from slavery. He discovered at an early age that education was the key to freedom.
Slave owners were not ignorant to the fact that keeping slave's un-educated was the only way to maintain their power of enslavement. They start this process early age by cutting off the natural bond that is typically formed between a mother and her child. Douglass knew his mother very mildly and saw little of her before she passed. He was separated from her at birth because their master sold her to a different plantation by her master who sold her to another plantation. He never developed a natural relationship with his mother and, when she died he felt nothing. When his mother was sold he felt nothing because he didn't know her well: "The ties that ordinarily bind children to their homes were all...

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A Narrative of the Life of FrederickDouglass
During the time before the novel was written, slavery went untold. Slavery was a cruel practice that consisted of forced, harsh, unpaid labor and cruel whippings. In the early 1820s, most slaves were in the south, while abolitionists were more common in the north because of the lack of need of slave labor. Slave owners were inhumane and unpleasant to their slaves and often whipped them for no reason whatsoever. Life was unfortunate and food was scarce as a slave, yet no provisions were taken to put a stop to this inhumane practice. During this time, slaves were viewed as property, and used to harvest crops no matter the weather, do other farm chores, and even tend to their owner’s needs in their houses. They held a significant role in the United States economy, by making it possible for large plantation owners to harvest large amounts of crops quickly and inexpensively. By doing so, these owners could then sell those materials to make excessive amounts of money. All of this was done without thanks of course. Most of these slaves were undernourished, beaten, and kept ignorant. Owners wanted their slaves weak so they could not escape and run away and often didn’t allow them to learn to read or write in order to keep them from gaining freedom. Throughout all of this, everyday slaves had to live scared of being separated from the few relatives they had....

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Narrative of the Life of FrederickDouglass an American Slave is an autobiography and a memoir written by FrederickDouglass, a famous orator, leading black abolitionist and an ex-slave. This is the most famous narratives written by former slave which was published in1845, less than seven years after he escaped from slavery. He is one of the most celebrated writers in the African American literature. In this autobiography, he highlights the common practice of white slave owners over black slaves. He describes every aspect of his life under slavery and explains how he educated himself and managed to be free. Douglass, however, omitted the details about his escape from slavery but his narrative became a major source of information about slavery which raised a philosophical question about freedom related to an emotional, ethical and legal issue of slavery.
Douglass’s narrative pictures his and thousands of other black people’s life under slavery. At that time the potential audiences of his book were the whites in the North who were the ignorant of slavery and few committed to its abolition. Thus, in most of his narration he indirectly attacked the...

...The Narrative of the Life of FrederickDouglass
In the Narrative of the Life of FrederickDouglass we learn how a common “black slave” breaks the typical stereotype of a slave by becoming one of the most respected African American slaves in our countries history. From being born on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland he learned first hand how brutal and unfair African American slaves were treated he knew he had to make a stand. In educating himself he learned to promote his ideals and gained respect from his fellow slaves about the injustice they are living under. Frederick knew the past was the past and he could change the present by educating other African American slaves, this is just one of the many reasons why FrederickDouglass name is talked about in early American history when talking about slavery. One major theme that I feel we can gather from Frederick is knowledge is the path to freedom.
For Frederick to being able to read and write was one of the first example of his motivation to not be a typical African American slave but always wanting more to better himself and help his fellow slaves. In growing up as a young slave on a plantation his future looked very doomed. As a young boy he witnessed how bad slaves were treated for example how his masters would brutally beat slaves...